Archive for April, 2005

Writing madly

April 28th, 2005

So I have about a 1/3 of the first chapter and a few pages of the Introduction so far. A bloody good start if I do say so myself. Though it has meant neglecting my poor site and has meant a lack of posts.

Promise a longer post when I get properly back into the flow of things and the writing has been fitted into a more regular regime.

And it starts again…

April 22nd, 2005

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Well. The publisher and I. We have come to an agreement. I am going to write another book – this one on Nagios. Just started today. First 500 odd words pounded out on the plane down to Melbourne. I think I am going to be a little less stressed about this one.

P.S. Also another good review for the Das Book Mark I got sent to me today. Still can’t get my head around the fact people think it’s good. :P

Neighbours lower Nazi flag

April 21st, 2005

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This just makes me laugh – albeit somewhat nervously. Firstly she named her child “Breeanna” (yes you read that right – three e’s) and secondly she is unaware of the significance of the flag she was flying. Lost for words some days.

This world ride is frightening me and I want to get off and get my money back.

Das Book Mark II

April 17th, 2005

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Okay – so I am obviously an idiot because I am going to do the book thing again. My publisher and I are in discussions on another book. This one potentially on Nagios. I have submitted for a proposal for a Nagios book but I think there is scope to do something else – my editor seemed to indicate there were some ideas floating around in their editorial group.

But I’ve started researching on the assumption that the Nagios book will go ahead. Already mocked up a Table of Contents and now starting to flesh out the contents of the chapters in my head. Certainly feel a lot more confident about this one than the previous one.

Blasted Boojum

April 16th, 2005

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Naughty Boojum did a bolt out the door last night and returned this morning with a cut paw pad. Off to the vet – again. We seem to be almost keeping those guys in business – three cats and a dog. So it’s anti-biotics and a twice-daily clean of the cut with this antiseptic solution. The tablets I can do – she swallows anything that potentially might be food without too much resistance. The cleaning? Well you try on your own to hold down a seriously pissed off cat with three working sets of claws and clean her paw at the same time. I have a whole new set of scars. Even wrapped up in a towel she’s pretty feisty – this towel wrapped, yowling bundle literally drags me across the room to get away from the cleaning. Well I am doing my best and it looks a little better. Last thing I need is having to deal with a cat absess.

News organisations back bloggers

April 13th, 2005

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The SMH has an interesting article on the traditional news media backing bloggers on First Amendment rights. The AP, and a number of Californian newspapers, obviously see the recent Apple attempt to stop leaks about its products by taking everyone involved to court and claiming the use of the material was in breach of trade secrets laws as a direct threat to their ability to report. Indeed as a direct threat to their First Amendment rights to publish and the related rights to protect the sources of their information. It’s a slippery slope and one Apple would want to be real sure they want to climb on. Organisations and individuals who take on the media like that usually only win if they happen to pay the salaries of the people they are going after.

Slashdot | Google Hacking for Penetration Testers

April 12th, 2005

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This book is one of the coolest concepts I have seen in a while. I bought it as soon as I saw it. Like the book’s Slashdot reviewer I call Google my ’second brain’ and consider myself somewhat of a Google power user. This book looks like a very useful additional resource to Google.

MIT Media Lab: $100 Laptop

April 5th, 2005

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Wow. Pulling this off would be amazing. This is one of those potentially world-changing projects. I can forsee a lot of issues but I can also see some incredible potential results. Will follow this one with considerable interest.

Das Book is wunderbar

April 4th, 2005

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Woot woot! Apparently a Slashdot review of Das Book is on the way – a very positive one. And Das Book is apparently selling really, really well. *wipes brow*

Who knew? Oh yes. That’s right. All of you lot. Well all of you ‘I told you so’ people come over here and stand in a neat line so I can buy you drinks. :P

Pope John Paul II bites the big communion wafer in the sky

April 3rd, 2005

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So JP II has shuffled off the mortal coil. Finally. Took a damn long time dying too. I know, I know. I am supposed to be wailing and gnashing my teeth because he was the leader of the Catholic Church and a great humanitarian who defeated communism yadda yadda yadda. Well thankfully I am not Catholic so I don’t have to buy into all that religious bullshit and personally I don’t think he was much a humanitarian either.

The Catholic Church is an archaic and medieval organisation with backward values and a long history of fermenting and supporting evil and inducing misery and suffering. I can cite examples for hours: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of Jews, the slaughter of the Cathars, the decimation of the native South Americans, the failure to act against Hitler, the Vatican Bank, the failure to protect children from paedophile priests, the continued misery of woman across the world due to the ban on contraception and abortion including the dreadful consequences of these policies with regard to the spread of HIV/AIDS, the failure to recognise and ordain women, the persecution of homosexuals and the list goes on and on.

The moral courage of a few brave and just Catholics – for example the nuns and priests who work with the homeless and those in need, others who fight oppression and abuse in the Third World – and who often die at the hands of those they are trying to oppose – cannot and does not make up for the overall misery the Church has inflicted onto the world. Until a Catholic Pope acknowledges the moral bankruptcy of the organisation and preaches reform, forgiveness, hope and truth can they ever be truly called a humanitarian.